Future VC Capital Trends Supporting Mid-Market Firms

Trading organizations were asked how their turnover in January 2026 compared to December 2025, omitting any seasonal trading. Information are plotted in the middle of the duration of each wave. Almost a third (31%) of trading services reported that their turnover had decreased in January 2026 compared with the previous month.

Nevertheless, the movements are broadly in line with those observed around this time in previous years, with peaks in December followed by little falls in January. The industries with the greatest percentage reporting that turnover reduced in January 2026 were: the accommodation and food service activities market (52%, which is a 21 percentage point rise from December 2025) the other services market (45%) the arts, home entertainment and entertainment market (40%) Roughly 16% of trading services reported that their turnover increased in January 2026, which was a 3 portion point boost compared with December 2025.

For trading services with 10 or more workers, 33% reported that their turnover had reduced, which was broadly steady compared to December and January 2025. More than one in 5 (23%) organizations reported that their turnover had increased, up 2 portion points compared to December 2025. Generally, the proportion of companies reporting that their turnover increased associated to the size of the business.

The exception to this was the percentage for services with 250 or more employees, which was 25%, and 5 percentage points lower than December 2025 (30%). Trading services were asked how they expect their turnover to alter in the coming month. This can then be used to forecast how business's turnover will actually change as soon as that calendar month concludes.

Accessing Corporate Funding in the 2026 UK Economy

Trends between predicted turnover and actual turnover have actually broadly moved in the exact same instructions, the movements for expectations tend to be larger. For presentational functions, some action choices have actually been removed. Information are outlined in the middle of the duration of each wave. Care must be taken when interpreting expectations concerns, as the workers responding on behalf of organizations may not have complete oversight of all of their organization's future expectations.

ANSR July UK PRs

More than one in five (21%) trading organizations anticipate their turnover to increase in March 2026. This is a 6 percentage point rise from February 2026 however was broadly stable compared with expectations for March 2025 (22%). The percentage of trading businesses anticipating a boost in January 2026 was 13%, while the proportion that reported an actual boost in turnover in January 2026 was 16%, recommending a small pessimism in services expectations.

The trends have broadly followed each other considering that the questions were presented in April 2022. The outcomes for March 2026 follow the pattern from previous years, with the percentage of companies expecting turnover to increase peaking after a reduction in January. Larger businesses were most likely to expect a boost in turnover in March, with the proportion varying from 20% for services with 0 to 9 workers, to 42% for businesses with 100 to 249 staff members.

For presentational purposes, some action choices have actually been eliminated. Information are plotted in the middle of the period of each wave.

Scaling UK Enterprise International Growth in 2026

The proportion of trading companies that expected a decline in January 2026 was 25%, while the proportion that reported an actual decrease in turnover in January 2026 was 31%. The proportion of services anticipating turnover to reduce for a particular month ahead of time has actually remained considerably lower than the proportion of organizations reporting an actual decrease in that month because April 2022.

Expectations for turnover to reduce have regularly followed the same pattern, as actual reported turnover decreases throughout this time. Trading organizations were asked what obstacles, if any, were impacting their turnover in early February 2026. Around 3 in 10 (30%) trading companies reported that economic unpredictability was having an influence on their turnover, which was broadly steady with early January 2026.

For trading companies with 10 or more workers, expense of labour was the most regularly reported challenge, at 36%. Organizations with 10 to 49 employees were more likely to report cost of labour as a difficulty than organizations with 250 or more staff members (37%, compared with 20%). One in 5 (20%) trading services with 10 or more staff members showed that they were not presently experiencing any turnover obstacles in early February 2026.